CRISPR-ing for crispier apples

blogs.dal.ca · 451 words · saved by 1 readers

They say all good things take time, and this surely is the case when it comes to apple breeding, as it can take over 25 years to develop a new apple variety. Recently, new gene-editing tools like CRISPR have demonstrated their potential to improve plant breeding by allowing us to efficiently edit genes to create healthier, tastier and more climate resilient crops. The utility of CRISPR to edit DNA was discovered in 2012 by two scientists who have since been awarded the Chemistry Nobel Prize for their work. Often described as “genetic scissors”, CRISPR can edit the DNA of virtually any organism. Just like you can edit letters of a sentence to convey a different meaning, you can use CRISPR to edit letters of the DNA code to change a gene’s function and action. To date, only a handful of studies have demonstrated the utility of CRISPR in apples, but some have shown the ability to edit genes to activate disease resistance. All it takes is a look at how gene-editing has been applied in majo

June 22 2021 CRISPR-ing for crispier apples They say all good things take time, and this surely is the case when it comes to apple breeding, as it can take over 25 years to develop a new apple variety. Recently, new gene-editing tools like CRISPR have demonstrated their potential to improve plant breeding by allowing us to efficiently edit genes to create healthier, tastier and more climate resilient crops. The utility of CRISPR to edit DNA was discovered in 2012 by two scientists who have since been awarded the Chemistry Nobel Prize for their work. Often described as “genetic scissors”, CRISP

CRISPR-ing for crispier apples

related reading